2011-04-11 Study Session Budget - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Riganti said the proposed budget for Community Development for Fiscal Year 2012 was $2,024,452, representing a decrease of seven percent from Fiscal 2011. She said the personnel cost is the largest expense and discussed the department’s programs. They staff the Economic Retail Sales Tax and they oversee it. The department has several functions which relates to the preservation and enhancement of the City’s environment as the enforcement of various codes, coordinates economic development activities (short and long range planning efforts), and facilities maintenance was transferred to their department in August 2010. Ms. Riganti said they supply staff support for ten boards and commissions plus technical support to several other task forces. She said the department has 24 employees which are divided into six professional positions, eleven inspectors, three clerical and four maintenance facility staff. Ms. Riganti stated the first division she discussed was construction services which enforces the building codes, mechanical codes, conducts plan reviews and inspections and has five inspectors assigned to this service. She said the last year they issued over 4300 permits for construction related activities and conducted 8500 inspections. Ms. Riganti noted that this number represents a decrease from prior years due to the economic downturn. She said this division plans over the next year to identify necessary code revisions, investigate the feasibility of establishing a rental registration program, and improving inspection permitting software. Ms. Riganti said the second division was property maintenance and they conduct residential inspections at change of occupancy and as a result of complaints on property maintenance. There are four inspectors. They issued over 3500 occupancy permits, performed over 9500 inspections in the previous year. She said over the next year this division plans to increase certification for the inspectors and increase various types of inspections. Ms. Riganti said the third division is environmental services which enforces environmental codes such as weeds, derelict vehicles and also houses the animal control officer. There are two staff members in this division. Last year the department conducted over 8100 inspections which was an increase over the past year. She said over the next year the department will investigate improving tree removal procedures and vacant building property maintenance. Ms. Riganti stated that these three divisions generated over 2100 court cases and $114,000 in fines. The money collected goes into the Municipal Court system, not directly to the department. Ms. Riganti said the Administrative Clerical positions process all of the permits and the Facility Maintenance staff member are responsible for the maintenance of City Hall building and other City owned buildings. The last division is the Planning, Zoning and Economic Development which administers and enforces the zoning code; conditional use permits, site plan, zoning and text/map amendments. Ms. Riganti said they administer the comprehensive plan for the City and coordinate Economic Development activities. She said there are three professional staff members that comprise this division and they are looking to hire a third position, Manager of Economic Development, who they hope to have in place by the end of summer. Ms. Riganti noted that last year the division engaged in several planning activities: Joint Redevelopment Task Force with Olivette, various T.I.F. projects with the Olive Central, and Kingsland Walk. They have applied for over six grants and are in the process of administering at least two of them, Parkview Gardens Sustainable Neighborhood grant and the Wilson Ave Buyout grant. This division initiated various economic development activities including an entrepreneurial development forum, newsletters, outreach to various business districts, coordinated various community activities, worked on property acquisitions and reviewed over 32 zoning applications. She said over the next year this division plans to update the City’s Comprehensive Plan and have a joint session with the Council and the Plan Commission hopefully April 27, prior to the regular Plan Commission meeting. The division in the upcoming year, plans on updating various sections of the zoning code, as it is very antiquated. They plan to work on various grants and will be reviewing census data. Ms. Riganti said they are exploring ways to achieve more cost recovery by increasing permit fees and the rental registration program.